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---
title: Arguments Against Centralization
title: Why Communities Choose Independence
date: 2025-07-06
featureImageCaption: "Photo by Chad Davis, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (CC BY 2.0): https://www.flickr.com/photos/146321178@N05/49062863796. License link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/"
summary: While centralization can offer certain efficiencies and conveniences, we believes that the current level of concentration poses fundamental threats to individual autonomy, community resilience, and democratic governance. This resource provides evidence-based arguments that can be used in advocacy, education, and technology development contexts.
summary: When communities build and own their own technology, something wonderful happens. They discover tools that actually serve their needs, data that stays theirs, and neighbors who become collaborators. Here's what draws communities to independence.
aliases:
- /articles/arguments-against-centralization/
---
## Executive Summary
When communities start running their own digital infrastructure, they often discover something unexpected: it's not just about avoiding the downsides of big platforms. It's about what becomes possible when technology actually belongs to the people who use it.
This document consolidates key arguments against the extreme centralization of digital infrastructure, platforms, and services. While centralization can offer certain efficiencies and conveniences, the Civil Society Technology Foundation believes that the current level of concentration poses fundamental threats to individual autonomy, community resilience, and democratic governance. This resource provides evidence-based arguments that can be used in advocacy, education, and technology development contexts.
Here's what communities tell us about why they chose independence—and what they found on the other side.
## Technical Arguments
## "We wanted tools that fit our needs"
### 1. Single Points of Failure
**The discovery:** When you build your own tools, they can reflect your actual priorities.
**Argument**: Centralized systems create critical vulnerabilities through single points of failure.
Communities have different needs. A rural cooperative needs different things than an urban advocacy organization. A group preserving Indigenous languages has different priorities than an artist collective. Global platforms are designed for the average of everyone, which means they're perfect for no one.
**Evidence**:
When the Equitable Internet Initiative in Detroit started building community wireless networks, they didn't just get internet access—they got infrastructure designed around their neighborhoods' actual geography, needs, and values. The technology bent to serve the community, not the other way around.
- The 2021 Facebook outage took down multiple essential services for billions of users worldwide for over six hours because of centralized infrastructure
- AWS outages regularly impact large portions of the internet ecosystem, demonstrating the fragility of concentrated cloud infrastructure
- Centralized DNS and CDN services like Cloudflare have experienced outages that effectively disabled large portions of the web
**What communities say:**
- "For the first time, we're not second-class citizens waiting for a company to decide our neighborhood is profitable enough."
- "We can add features that matter to us, even if they'd never make sense for a global platform."
- "The tools actually work the way our community works."
**Impact**: As essential services migrate to digital platforms, these vulnerabilities create systemic risks to healthcare, financial systems, communications, and other critical infrastructure.
## "We wanted our data to stay ours"
### 2. Scaling Limitations
**The discovery:** When you control your infrastructure, privacy becomes real.
**Argument**: Centralized systems face inherent scaling challenges that distributed alternatives can overcome.
On most platforms, your data is the product. Your messages, your files, your patterns of behavior—all of it feeds business models built on knowing everything about you.
**Evidence**:
When communities run their own services, that changes completely. Your email stays on servers you control. Your files aren't being scanned to train AI models. Your private conversations are actually private.
- Email, the original federated protocol, has scaled to billions of users without centralized control
- BitTorrent consistently outperforms centralized distribution for large file sharing
- The Bitcoin network has demonstrated remarkable resilience compared to centralized financial systems
**What communities say:**
- "We work with vulnerable populations. We couldn't in good conscience put their information on platforms that monetize data."
- "It's not that we have anything to hide. It's that privacy is a basic form of respect."
- "Our members trust us more because they can see exactly where their data lives."
**Impact**: Centralization often creates artificial bottlenecks that limit growth, innovation, and resilience.
## "We wanted to meet our neighbors"
### 3. Inefficient Resource Allocation
**The discovery:** Building technology together builds community.
**Argument**: Centralized systems often use resources inefficiently compared to distributed alternatives.
This is the one that surprises people most. Communities that build their own infrastructure consistently report that the technology becomes an excuse for connection.
**Evidence**:
In Detroit's community wireless networks, installation days became neighborhood events. People who'd lived on the same block for years finally met each other. Teenagers taught seniors about networking; elders shared wisdom about community organizing. The technical work created relationships that extended far beyond technology.
- Centralized cloud services frequently oversell capacity, leading to resource contention
- Local computation and storage can reduce latency and bandwidth requirements
- Distributed systems can take advantage of idle resources across many devices
**What communities say:**
- "I met more neighbors in three months of antenna installations than in five years of living here."
- "The young people teaching the older folks—and the older folks teaching right back—that's community."
- "We came for the internet. We stayed for each other."
**Impact**: More efficient resource utilization can reduce costs, environmental impact, and performance limitations.
## "We wanted to build skills"
## Security Arguments
**The discovery:** Technical literacy is a gift communities can give themselves.
### 1. Concentrated Attack Surfaces
When communities run their own technology, knowledge spreads. People who never thought of themselves as "technical" discover they can learn, contribute, and eventually teach others.
**Argument**: Centralization creates concentrated attack surfaces that attract sophisticated adversaries.
This isn't about everyone becoming a systems administrator. It's about enough people in a community understanding how things work that the community isn't dependent on outside experts for everything.
**Evidence**:
**What communities say:**
- "I was terrified of anything technical. Now I help onboard new community members."
- "We have teenagers who started as curious helpers and are now leading projects."
- "The skills stay in our community. We're not dependent on consultants who disappear."
- Major platforms like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google routinely suffer breaches affecting millions or billions of users
- Government-sponsored attackers specifically target large platforms for maximum impact
- Centralized data repositories create incentives for attacks proportional to their value
## "We wanted resilience"
**Impact**: As data and services concentrate, the security stakes become existentially high, yet perfect security remains impossible.
**The discovery:** When you own your infrastructure, no one can take it away.
### 2. Mass Surveillance Enablement
Platforms change their terms. Companies get acquired, pivot, or shut down. Services that millions depend on can disappear with a press release.
**Argument**: Centralized systems enable mass surveillance by both corporate and state actors.
Communities that run their own infrastructure don't face these risks. Their communication channels, their archives, their shared spaces persist because they own them. No distant business decision can cut them off.
**Evidence**:
**What communities say:**
- "We've watched other organizations lose years of community history when platforms shut down. That won't happen to us."
- "When a platform we used changed their policies overnight, we were glad we'd already moved our critical communications."
- "Our infrastructure will last as long as our community wants it to."
- The Snowden revelations demonstrated how intelligence agencies leverage centralized services for surveillance
- Corporate data collection practices amount to pervasive tracking of online and offline behavior
- Centralized AI systems can analyze vast datasets to identify patterns and individuals
## "We wanted our resources to stay local"
**Impact**: This surveillance undermines fundamental rights to privacy, free association, and free expression.
**The discovery:** Money and skills invested in community infrastructure build community wealth.
### 3. Security Monocultures
When communities pay for big tech services, that money leaves. When they build their own infrastructure, the investment stays local—in equipment owned by the community, in skills held by community members, in capacity that grows over time.
**Argument**: Centralized systems create security monocultures that increase vulnerability.
**What communities say:**
- "Instead of subscription fees going to California, we're paying local people to maintain local infrastructure."
- "Every dollar we spend builds something we own."
- "The skills and equipment stay here. We're building wealth, not renting access."
**Evidence**:
## "We wanted technology that felt good"
- When most users run the same operating system, vulnerabilities affect a larger percentage of devices
- Diversity in implementation is a key security principle that centralization undermines
- Alternatives facing different threat models develop different security approaches
**The discovery:** Technology designed for community, not engagement, actually feels different.
**Impact**: Diversity and plurality in digital systems creates overall resilience against both targeted and broad attacks.
Big platforms are optimized for engagement—keeping you scrolling, clicking, reacting. That's how they make money. But engagement optimization often means anxiety, comparison, and compulsive checking.
## Economic Arguments
Community-owned platforms don't need to maximize your time on site. They can be designed for actual usefulness and genuine connection.
### 1. Monopolistic Control
**What communities say:**
- "I forgot social media could feel good until I joined a community-run instance."
- "There's no algorithm trying to make me angry so I'll keep scrolling."
- "It's calmer. More like a town square and less like a casino."
**Argument**: Digital centralization leads to monopolistic market dynamics that harm innovation and competition.
## "We wanted to be part of something larger"
**Evidence**:
**The discovery:** Independence doesn't mean isolation.
- App store gatekeeping by Apple and Google extracts significant revenue from developers
- Amazon's control of e-commerce creates dependencies for countless small businesses
- Network effects and data advantages create "winner-take-all" markets
Communities running their own infrastructure aren't alone. They're part of a growing movement of communities, organizations, and individuals building alternatives together.
**Impact**: These monopolies extract excessive value, stifle competition, and reduce innovation compared to more open markets.
Through federation protocols, open standards, and shared knowledge, independent communities can connect with each other while maintaining their autonomy. It's cooperation without centralization.
### 2. Value Extraction
**What communities say:**
- "We run our own instance, but we're connected to thousands of others."
- "The community of people doing this work is incredibly generous with knowledge and support."
- "We're independent, but we're not isolated. That's the whole point."
**Argument**: Centralized platforms systematically extract value from creators and communities.
## Getting started
**Evidence**:
If any of this resonates, you're not alone. Communities around the world are already building independent technology, and they're eager to help others join them.
- Content creators receive minimal compensation on platforms that monetize their work
- Gig economy platforms capture most of the value created by workers
- User data generates billions in profit while users receive negligible compensation
You don't need to be technical to start. You don't need to do everything at once. Many communities begin with a single service—a shared file server, a community chat, a local wireless network—and grow from there.
**Impact**: This extraction undermines sustainable livelihoods and fair compensation for digital labor and creativity.
The [Civil Society Technology Foundation](/about/) exists to help communities on this journey. Our [Wild Cloud project](/projects/wild-cloud/) provides the tools, and our community provides the support.
### 3. Artificial Scarcity
**Argument**: Centralization creates artificial scarcity in digital goods that are naturally abundant.
**Evidence**:
- Digital content can be reproduced at near-zero cost, yet artificial restrictions create scarcity
- Knowledge and information get placed behind paywalls despite trivial distribution costs
- Computational resources are artificially limited through licensing rather than technical constraints
**Impact**: These artificial limitations reduce access to knowledge, tools, and resources that could benefit society.
## Social Arguments
### 1. Power Asymmetries
**Argument**: Centralization creates extreme power asymmetries between platform operators and users.
**Evidence**:
- Platform terms of service are non-negotiable and can change unilaterally
- Content moderation decisions affect millions with limited recourse
- Platform design changes can disrupt communities and livelihoods overnight
**Impact**: These asymmetries undermine individual agency and community autonomy in digital spaces.
### 2. Algorithmic Control
**Argument**: Centralized systems impose algorithmic control that shapes social behavior and information access.
**Evidence**:
- Recommendation algorithms determine what content receives visibility
- Engagement-optimizing systems promote divisive and emotional content
- Search algorithms shape what information appears relevant and accessible
**Impact**: This control fundamentally shapes public discourse, information ecosystems, and social behavior without democratic accountability.
### 3. Cultural Homogenization
**Argument**: Centralized platforms lead to cultural homogenization that reduces diversity of expression.
**Evidence**:
- Global platforms impose consistent interfaces and interaction models regardless of cultural context
- Content policies reflect primarily Western values and business priorities
- Algorithmic amplification tends to favor dominant languages and cultural expressions
**Impact**: This homogenization reduces cultural diversity, contextual nuance, and community-specific practices.
## Democratic Arguments
### 1. Accountability Deficits
**Argument**: Centralized digital power lacks democratic accountability mechanisms.
**Evidence**:
- Major platforms make decisions affecting billions without democratic input
- Corporate governance prioritizes shareholder interests over broader stakeholder concerns
- Terms of service replace democratically-created law as governance mechanisms
**Impact**: As digital systems increasingly mediate civic life, this accountability deficit undermines democratic governance.
### 2. Regulatory Capture
**Argument**: Centralized digital powers achieve regulatory capture that undermines democratic oversight.
**Evidence**:
- Tech lobbying expenditures have grown dramatically as centralization increases
- Complex technical systems create information asymmetries that disadvantage regulators
- Revolving doors between industry and regulatory agencies create conflicts of interest
**Impact**: This capture prevents effective democratic oversight of increasingly essential infrastructure.
### 3. Civil Society Erosion
**Argument**: Digital centralization erodes the independence of civil society organizations.
**Evidence**:
- NGOs and advocacy groups become dependent on platforms they seek to critique
- Community organizations lose communication channels if they violate platform policies
- Surveillance chills political organization and association
**Impact**: A healthy democracy requires independent civil society, which centralization increasingly undermines.
## Cognitive & Psychological Arguments
### 1. Attention Exploitation
**Argument**: Centralized platforms systematically exploit human cognitive vulnerabilities.
**Evidence**:
- Engagement-maximizing design deliberately leverages psychological vulnerabilities
- Addictive design patterns are well-documented across major platforms
- A/B testing optimizes for metrics like "time spent" rather than user well-being
**Impact**: This exploitation undermines agency, mental health, and intentional use of technology.
### 2. Information Environment Degradation
**Argument**: Centralization degrades information environments through engagement-driven amplification.
**Evidence**:
- Studies show algorithmic amplification of sensationalistic and divisive content
- Misinformation spreads more rapidly than corrections on major platforms
- Centralized algorithms optimize for engagement, not information quality
**Impact**: This degradation undermines informed decision-making, social cohesion, and shared reality.
### 3. Dependency Creation
**Argument**: Centralized systems deliberately create psychological and practical dependencies.
**Evidence**:
- Platform design incorporates habit-forming hooks and engagement mechanics
- Walled gardens and proprietary formats create switching costs
- Essential functionalities increasingly require centralized services
**Impact**: These dependencies reduce autonomy and increase vulnerability to exploitation.
## Ethical Arguments
### 1. Consent Failures
**Argument**: Centralized systems systematically undermine meaningful consent.
**Evidence**:
- Terms of service are notoriously long and complex, preventing informed consent
- Dark patterns guide users toward privacy-compromising choices
- Many services are essentially required for modern life, making consent coercive
**Impact**: Without meaningful consent, user autonomy is fundamentally compromised.
### 2. Unequal Impacts
**Argument**: The harms of centralization disproportionately affect vulnerable populations.
**Evidence**:
- Marginalized communities face more aggressive content moderation
- Privacy violations have more severe consequences for vulnerable groups
- Economic extraction has greater impact on those with fewer resources
**Impact**: These unequal impacts reinforce existing social inequities and power imbalances.
### 3. Future Foreclosure
**Argument**: Current centralization forecloses possible futures with greater autonomy and pluralism.
**Evidence**:
- Network effects create path dependencies that become harder to change over time
- Technical standards and protocols become dominated by large players
- Alternative models receive less investment and development
**Impact**: The longer extreme centralization continues, the harder it becomes to change course.
## Historical Arguments
### 1. Previous Centralizations
**Argument**: Historical precedents show the dangers of communication and information centralization.
**Evidence**:
- State control of printing presses enabled censorship and suppression
- Broadcast media centralization limited participatory culture and diverse viewpoints
- Telephone monopolies stifled innovation and extracted excessive rents
**Impact**: These historical examples demonstrate recurring patterns when essential communication infrastructure becomes centralized.
### 2. Decentralization Successes
**Argument**: Major technological successes have often come from decentralized, open approaches.
**Evidence**:
- The internet itself succeeded because of open protocols and distributed governance
- Open source software has consistently produced high-quality, resilient systems
- Innovation often emerges from diverse, uncoordinated experimentation
**Impact**: These successes challenge the necessity and inevitability of current centralization.
### 3. Centralization Cycles
**Argument**: Technology tends to cycle between periods of centralization and decentralization.
**Evidence**:
- The early internet was relatively decentralized before platform consolidation
- Personal computing decentralized computing power before cloud recentralization
- Similar patterns appear in telecommunications, media, and other information technologies
**Impact**: Understanding these cycles helps resist the narrative that current centralization is inevitable or permanent.
## Conclusion
The arguments presented here demonstrate that extreme digital centralization poses significant threats across multiple dimensions—technical, security, economic, social, democratic, psychological, ethical, and historical. While some degree of centralization may be appropriate for certain functions, the current concentration of digital power has far exceeded the balance point where benefits outweigh harms.
The Civil Society Technology Foundation believes these arguments make a compelling case for developing and adopting more distributed, community-governed approaches to digital technology. Such approaches can preserve the benefits of digital tools while mitigating the harms of excessive centralization.
By understanding these arguments, individuals, communities, and organizations can make more informed choices about the technologies they use, develop, and advocate for. This understanding forms a crucial foundation for building digital systems that genuinely serve human flourishing and civil society rather than undermining them.
Come see what becomes possible when communities own their digital homes.